I am Gilgamesh, the King of Heroes.

Whenever calamity struck, Rubia would plead with the Elf King for mercy, praying that they could appease his anger. But the Elf King would only heed her prayers after people had lost everything.

So Rubia decided to go directly to see the Elf King.

However, the Divine Ritual Institute rejected Rubia's request.

Until one day, the Elf King demanded that Rubia offer a sacrifice as a price to appease the Holy Wrath.

In fact, it is common for high elves to demand sacrifices or offerings from humans.

For example, the priestesses of the Divine Ritual Institute learn to perform dances instead of offering sacrifices; while the spirit masters offer their divine power to the contracted spirits as sacrifices.

The tribute that the Fire Spirit King requested from Rubia was—the True Flame of the Elstein family.

The True Flame of the Elstein House.

The true meaning behind this statement is—

The life of Rubia's sister, Claire.

Everyone looked shocked when this was mentioned.

Indeed, it is an indisputable fact that many elves would demand the lives of the living as sacrifices.

However, throughout history, many heroes have emerged among humankind, repeatedly defeating those elves who used fear to control the people. If they were merely local evil elves, that would be one thing, but the Elf King is the ruler of the elemental spirit realm; it's truly unimaginable that he would demand human sacrifices.

The true flame of the Elstein family—its true meaning is the bloodline passed down through generations of the Elstein family.

That is, the heretical fire hidden within the two sisters, defying the logic and principles of this world.

At first, Rubia refused to believe it, thinking that the Elf King doubted her judgment. So Rubia confessed her doubts to the Elf King and begged him to forgive her.

Rubia offered sacrifices with sacred music and prayers, pleading with the Elf King to rescind his demand for offerings. Every night, Rubia prayed and offered sacrifices incessantly until she collapsed from exhaustion…

However, Rubia's prayers were never accepted.

After a series of failures, Rubia made a bold decision—

She wants to see the Elf King directly!

And so on that day—Rubia traversed the endless walkway leading to the True Temple and arrived at the hall at the end.

Then, she opened the towering final door.

What comes into view is a staircase leading to a distant, high place.

At the top of the stairs, a massive curtain concealed the throne. On the throne—

It is—destruction…

"So... I betrayed the Elf King in the end... All the servant elves around here have been wiped out by that man... What a cautious fellow..." Rubia recounted the whole story.

After listening to Rubia's words, Leora thought for a long time, until Gilles, Artoria, and Enkidu had all defeated all the teams and returned.

When Artoria personally handed the magic stones of the defeated teams to Gil, Leora also decided to give her magic stones to Gil.

After Jill returned, Rubia gave him all the remaining magic stones of the Purgatory Apostle.

The Purgatory Apostles did not actually have a sixth member, but in order to cover their tracks, they still took six magic stones, with Rubia personally keeping two of them safe.

Thus, the Uruk team obtained all the magic stones.

Thus, he became the champion of the Elf Sword Dance Festival.

……

Artoria looked at Gil, who was reading a book, and asked, "Aren't you worried?"

"What are you worried about? If worrying were useful, why would I need to concern myself with these things?" Gil glanced at Artoria. "Knight King, instead of worrying about this, you should worry about the suitors you're about to face. I believe that will be quite interesting."

Chapter 254 They're really giving me trouble.

“You don’t need to worry about this.” Artoria adjusted her somewhat complicated dress. “It’s such a troublesome outfit.”

“I think it looks great, don’t I?” Gil said, looking at Artoria without any politeness.

"I wish your skills would be as sharp as your words," Artoria retorted.

"My skills far surpass my words," Gil chuckled, referring to himself as "this king" when facing another king. "What? Don't you want to experience it for yourself?"

"You can't even use your prized Noble Phantasm anymore, can you?" Artoria looked at Gilles with some surprise. "Where does your confidence come from?"

"Where does this king get his confidence from? Why don't you try and see?" Gil narrowed his eyes, a faint light flashing in his crimson snake eyes.

"..." Enkidu saw Gilles's state, walked to Gilles's side, raised his arm, and lifted Gilles up.

"??? Enkidu, what are you doing?"

“Nothing much… I just felt like there were some things I needed to tell you.” Enkidu smiled. “You won’t refuse, will you, Gil?”

"of course not……"

"Then come with me."

Just as Enkidu was about to grab Gilles and leave, Gilles' pupils contracted, and he uttered, "I—"

Then he fell into a coma.

“…This is…” Enkidu glanced at the unconscious Gil, “Well, I’ve been called away again…”

……

Lian had already left the room by then.

She felt a little confused.

"I have to face that again..." In the bathroom specially arranged for Lian, she took off her clothes and stepped into the pool to cleanse herself.

"Isn't this something we have to face?"

Restia said, "Three years ago, you faced it alone. This time, he has to step forward and take on that arduous task..."

"That makes sense... Master's words should be able to resolve everything smoothly, right?"

Because it's him...

A smile flickered across Lian's face, and Restia chuckled, "What's wrong, Lian? Thinking about your master?"

"No...not really." Lian shook her head. "I'm just a little concerned."

"Care?" Restia tilted her head, her twilight-colored eyes flashing with a strange light.

“Master…” Lian shook her head, “I always have this feeling that I’m going to watch you leave.”

“Your master… haha… he’s a very special person, you know?” Restia pressed her finger to her lips. “He has a mission that he must complete.”

"Restia knows?"

"Lian will find out sooner or later..." Restia smiled slightly.

……

"Ugh, really, you dragged me into this again..." Jill sighed. "What's wrong?"

“Of course it’s an important matter… Do you remember the Spirit King that your disciple liberated three years ago? Go find her now,” the Wise King said directly.

"The Lotus-Liberated Elf King... you mean the Water Elf King Isalia Shiva, right?" Gil stroked his chin and said.

"Yes...that person plays a crucial role in your final battle against the Destruction Factor—just find her and help her regain some of her power and memories."

The wise king said, "She can help you control the power of one of the Elf Kings, and she can also awaken the sanity of several Elf Kings who have been deeply corrupted, so as to resist the erosion of the destructive factor."

"...Is that so...the location?" Jill asked.

"The exact location... is obscured by magic, it must be the work of the Destruction Factor..." The Wise King scoffed, "So what if you control this world? Do you think I'm a pushover!?"

The wise king eventually used his senses (violent) to forcibly explore and find the location of the Water Spirit King.

“…” Jill sighed.

The wise king is very strong, extremely strong, and he definitely held back a lot when fighting me.

When he faced the Wise King, although he had not yet made a contract with Estelle or retrieved Enkidu's original form, Gilles believed that he was already very strong.

However, the wise king personally taught him a lesson, shattering his unwarranted confidence.

After all, it was really painful to watch the wise king chant incantations several times without daring to take the initiative to attack and interrupt him.

After all, you don't know if the other person is really chanting a spell, or if they're just pretending and waiting to hit you with an axe when you come over, right?

Can you believe that the Wise King is even more skilled in close combat than Gil?! You know, Gil is now confident that he can take down Artoria with just the End Sword.

The Wise King can easily crush Gilles in close combat.

This is really sad.

The wise king simply said: "You haven't had enough experience yet."

Hmm...it seems I really need to exercise more.

“Found it, it’s in the ruined capital, Megidor,” the wise king said.

“Megidore… Let me think, I remember that place. The book says that its former name was Ivory City, a city built by elves in the distant ancient times. It was also the place where the final battlefield of the Elven Wars took place.”

Gil said, "In that case, there must be quite a few elves inside..."

Some of them might even be related to Esther.

Jill glanced at her right hand without realizing it.

That's where Ester's elven mark is located.

Ester possesses power that even the five great elven kings would fear.

How much of that power did I actually unleash?

Thirty percent? Or forty percent?

In short, it's safe to say that there aren't many.

"Don't worry—you know the final battle is coming soon, and that toy will give you back your authority." The wise king calculated the time. "Tomorrow, you'll probably have to set off. Try to find the Water Spirit King in Megidor within a day—by the way, you know the Alphas Theocracy, right? And the Holy Lugia Kingdom?"

“Of course I know… What’s wrong?” Jill asked.

“Be careful… there are people in these two countries who have been in contact with the Destruction Factor…” The Wise King frowned. “Remember this, so when you go to Megidor, you must go alone.”

“Otherwise, if the Water Spirit King falls under the control of the Destruction Factor, your mission to liberate all the Spirit Kings will be tantamount to failure.” The Wise King frowned. “You should know that the Water Spirit King doesn’t have much power right now.”